


lie again (you're still the one i want)

by orphan_account



Series: hireath [2]
Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: Exes, F/F, Mutual Pining, chaeryeong doesn't want to third wheel, ryeji meet again, ryujin invites yeji over?, yejisu got into a fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ryujin refuses to talk about what happened three months ago, and now they're unsure of what will happen next.A finished candle can't be returned, but it can be replaced. Maybe this meeting is their second beginning.
Relationships: Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin
Series: hireath [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704898
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	lie again (you're still the one i want)

_ But as if she could feel Ryujin's eyes on her, she looked up, locking eyes with her. _

_ A heartbeat. _

_ "Ryujin?" _

_ "Yeji." _

* * *

  
  


Ryujin was breathless. Her mind was empty, too. There were no words to be spoken. Or at least, that's what she thinks. 

Of all times to run into her, why now? Has the universe plotted some kind of comeback? Probably not. But why would God (or whoever the hell is up there) make them meet like this?

Why on the day that Ryujin finally went out again after three months of locking herself in?

"Ryujin," Chaeryeong calls, "you can tell her to talk next time if you're not ready for this yet. You know that, right?"

Ryujin nods.

She knows. She knows that Yeji would never push her to do something when she wasn't ready yet. But that fact about the cat-eyed girl made it harder to resist her. She knew that Yeji would never push her, but something about seeing the girl wait for so damn long for her to open up made her feel guilty. And because of that guilt, she would open up.

God, if this was a tactic, she's a genius.

"It's alright, Chae. I can handle this." Ryujin says, giving the most sincere smile she could to the latter.

With that, she turned to face Yeji. With a straight face, she walked towards the latter, acting as nonchalant as possible. "Yeji."

"Are we just gonna keep calling each other's names, or?" Yeji chuckled.

God, she missed that laugh.

"What're you doing here alone?" Ryujin asked, not that she cared. (She did.)

Yeji looks down, scratching the back of her head nervously. "I just needed some fresh air. That's all."

Ryujin smiled. Yeji was a bad liar, and that was clear as day right now. "Liar."

Yeji froze. 

Ryujin laughed.

"Fine, fine. Jisu and I got into a fight. It was about-" She stops, refusing to finish the sentence. It was as if there was something about what she was about to say that should be kept from Ryujin.

What exactly is she hiding?

* * *

Yeji's fucked. She almost let it out. She can't let it out. She just can't. She can't let Ryujin know that she's been mourning over how stupid she was for leaving her for three whole months. What right did she have to mourn, anyway? She's the one who left. This is her fault.

"Yeji?"

Fuck. Make an excuse, make an excuse, make an excuse.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't finish the sentence." Ryujin said, eyes full of suspicion. God, Yeji was fucked.

"Oh. Sorry, my mind went off to something else." Nice one, Yeji, now she really knows that you're lying. "She got mad that I refused to do my history homework. But the deadline is still two weeks from now! That's plenty of time!"

Ryujin laughs. It's sincere. Her eyes formed crescents and her whisker dimples were clearer than the night sky. 

Yeji missed this.

She missed her.

* * *

Yeji hadn't changed at all. She's still the same smart-ass kid who does her homework last minute and still aces it; she's still the horrible liar she used to be.

Maybe it was because it had only been three months, but over ninety days is enough time to make a person change, right? Especially when someone's not in their life anymore. But hey, what could Ryujin say? She locked herself in. How could she change at all?

Then again, she can't tell whether she herself has changed or not. Only those around her can.

"Is it alright if I invite you over tonight?" Ryujin says.

Wait, what?

She fucked up.

Yeji buffers for a moment, trying to understand what was going on. They hadn't seen each other for what felt like years, and now she's inviting her over? She wants to say no. She wants to show Ryujin that she's not stuck on her. She wants to prove to Ryujin that those feelings she'd once had for her had now dissipated.

But she can't.

She just can't. And it's not because she's afraid of hurting the latter's feelings, but because there was like this..this rope that pulled her towards Ryujin. It was like gravity. It pulled her without her knowing, and she's sure of that because she always, always ends up with Ryujin somehow. Even on days when she least wants it. (Not that there were any.)

She takes a deep breath "Okay."

* * *

Ryujin is at a loss for words. Yeji's answer was abrupt. She hadn't thought this plan through at all. Hell, she never even expected to see Yeji now. But fuck it. She's done it already, and once you pull a straw, there's no going back. What you get is what you have.

"Ryu, are you sure about this?" Chaeryeong asks. The other girl was probably more worried than she was, Chaeryeong was shaking, she was afraid of what was to come. "What if this doesn't end well?"

Ryujin laughed nervously. "We'll never know 'til we try."

* * *

Surprisingly enough, though, no one brought up how they broke up on the walk home. But despite how calming that was to all three of them, there was this thick tension in the air—like a truth that was fighting to get out. It was unsettling. Ryujin didn't like it, and neither did Yeji and Chaeryeong. But they were all too afraid of what might happen if they brought it up, so they stayed silent.

A few minutes of an undying awkward silence later, they finally made it to Ryujin's condo. Yeji knew the place well. She'd used to come here everyday after classes to help Ryujin with her homework and watch Netflix with her as they cuddled under the thick blanket of Ryujin's bed.

But despite practically living here for a year, returning to the place felt new again.

"Hey," Ryujin called. "You still remember your way around, don't you?"

Yeji smiled. "Yeah."

Nothing changed. The place still felt like a modern mansion, but with a thousand residents. The decor was still the same. The painting that Ryujin insisted she'd take a photo with was still there. The clerk was still the same nice girl in her early thirties. She still recognized Yeji.

"Yeji!" The clerk immediately greets her. "You're back!"

"Miss Bae!" Yeji smiled, running towards the older to give her a hug. "I missed you."

"You're too sweet." The latter laughed.

"Yeji!" Ryujin called, telling the cat-eyed girl to come back and go to her unit together with Chaeryeong. Yeji apologized to Miss Bae for cutting their conversation so early, but the clerk only gave her a knowing smile and told her to go.

* * *

"Ryu, your place is still the same." Yeji pointed out. Ryujin didn't know how to respond to that. Should she just tell her that she couldn't change anything because she'd done nothing but sulking inside her room, literally refusing to let anyone in? No, that'd be too straightforward. Should she just make an excuse? How? What would it be? God, she's overthinking this.

Still not knowing what to say, Ryujin laughed awkwardly. "Yeah. I was too lazy to change anything."

Bad lie.

Yeji knows that Ryujin's never lazy. Especially when she has a lot on her mind. And she couldn't have possibly not thought about what led to their relationship ending, right? It'd be impossible if she didn't even think of it once when she cried so much that she didn't hear Yeji's answer when she asked why.

But as if she knew that the two were in an awkward situation, Chaeryeong spoke up. "Hey, uh, I'll get going now. My mother asked me to cook dinner today and it's almost six in the afternoon."

"Alright. See you, Chae." Ryujin said.

Yeji smiled as she waved the latter goodbye.

As Chaeryeong left, Ryujin pulled Yeji into her room. The action surprised the latter. There was no one else in the room but them.

"Netflix?" Ryujin offered.

Yeji was confused. "Jinnie, don't you want me to explain why-"

"We can do that later. Come cuddle with me, please?"

She's irresistible, and Yeji hates that. Because now she has to relive everything she and Ryujin used to do back then but with an underlying tension between them.

She has to spend the night with the girl whose heart she broke.

**Author's Note:**

> I STARTED IN THE AFTERNOON AND FINISHED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND IT'S ONLY 1.3K WORDS WOO


End file.
